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What's a Wreck?

A Cake Wreck is any cake that is unintentionally sad, silly, creepy, inappropriate - you name it. A Wreck is not necessarily a poorly-made cake; it's simply one I find funny, for any of a number of reasons. Anyone who has ever smeared frosting on a baked good has made a Wreck at one time or another, so I'm not here to vilify decorators: Cake Wrecks is just about finding the funny in unexpected, sugar-filled places.

I'm not going to blur the label on this wreck, minions, because sometimes something is so heinous, so beyond the pale, that I think the world deserves an answer from the responsible party.

Yep, I'm looking at you, Target.

Right.

A few things:

What... what in sweet Stay Puft's marshmallow-covered heck is this?

A "cookie mountain"? A "COOKIE MOUNTAIN"??

Target, let's chat.

In what frosted-over nether world of despair and insulin resistance did you imagine chocolate chip cookies needed to be submerged in a pound of vanilla icing? How do you even eat such a thing? Who is it for? When's the right time to pull this out at parties?

And most importantly - most importantly - what the heck is going ON in your bakery pitch meetings?

"Ok, ok, hear me out, team: cookies... and icing."

"What, like frosted sugar cookies?"

"No, more icing."

"Like cookie sandwiches?"

"No, more icing."

"Like a cookie cake?"

"I'M SAYING LET'S TAKE A WHOLE TUB OF ICING AND STICK SOME COOKIES IN IT, OK, BARB?"

[stunned silence]

[Barb begins to slow clap]

[The rest of the room joins her]

[tumultuous applause, raucous cat-calls, confetti cannons, etc]

"And we shall call it... a COOKIE MOUNTAIN!MWAHAHAAAAAA!"

[Entire room conga-lines out, leaving poor Stanley the janitor to clean up all the cocaine and empty booze bottles, because they're jerks like that.]

OMG, you've got to be kidding me! I can't say my prayers have been answered, because never in my wildest dreams could I even imagine something so wonderful. Now, which direction to the nearest Target...

I'm Cookiemama, a name everyone gave me 'cuz I bake yummy cookies for everyone and anytime (it's my Italian blood and relaxes me). I've been told "Cookie, you have nice mountains" (those pervs, hehehe), but this diabetic-coma inducing nightmare? Nope, never done it, nor has my baking brain ever considered this thing. JEN, AWSOME COMMENTARY. It's exactly how I would imagine this came about.And in my home town, we pronounce it "Tar-Jay".

Thought it might be a one-of thing so I Googled "Cookie Mountain"... and no, it seems to be a thing-"thing"... there are YouTube videos on how to make your very own cookie mountain cake! However, one confection in one video seemed to actually include a base of real cake. I'm really not quite sure how to take this newly acquired information, other than to reach for some insulin.

This looks terrible, but I did see something similar, but better, in a Martha Stewart magazine. Maybe that’s their inspiration? Or they just thought “What can we do with all these leftover cookies and frosting?”

I found Martha’s: https://www.marthastewart.com/856492/chocolate-chip-cookie-icebox-cake

Honestly, it looks quite tasty to me. My inner 5 year old would be very excited to see this.

The concept of a Cookie Mountain has potential. I think in a dessert like this, the quality of both the cookie AND the icing would be key. The buttercream icing would have to be fluffy and light and not too sweet, like a good Swiss or Italian meringue buttercream - definitely not the prepared stuff from a can. The cookies would have to be buttery and rich and decadent - not the day olds that are likely pictured here. Together, they'd be wonderful marriage of textures and flavor. Heck, one could even mix up the flavors a bit for fun - salted caramel brownie cookies with a rum-infused buttercream....or maybe a pumpkin cookie with a pumpkin-spice buttercream. So many possibilities!

I think, done right, this could be better than eating what passes for cake at some establishments.

This is totally a thing. It's called Chocolate Chip Icebox cake. How could you have missed it? It's on Tastemade. I thought I had seen it on other trending websites but here's this link...https://www.tastemade.com/videos/chocolate-chip-cookie-icebox-cake

That cookie mountain sets my teeth on edge. WAY too much frosting! Great use of stale cookies & buckets of Crisco frosting.And for those who are attempting to equate that mountain with an icebox cake-no. An icebox cake is made with cookies layered with whipped cream, then put in the ice box (refrigerator) to allow the two to blend into a tasty mush.Belated Happy Tenth Birthday Cakewrecks! Thanks Jen & John!

In Australia, Target doesn't sell anything edible (not that the 'cookie mountain' looks edible either), it's just clothing, toys, DVDs and homewares. It's very like our Kmart (and owned by the same group), but with slightly higher quality - you can buy goods that aren't visibly damaged (I only buy from Kmart to use the fabric) and usually make it through the wash before falling apart. Amusingly the Target ads focus on their rigorous quality and testing procedures. But their passive-aggressive staff are pretty good at deterring repeat attempts at returning faulty goods, so it all works out.

So what other weirdness is in American Target? This is fascinating, in a horror-comedy kind of way.

When I saw this I was in my office trying best to quietly laugh and not to snort, but apparently that makes me look like I'm crying so coworkers ask me what's wrong and I'm still giggling so I have to invite them around to my side of the desk to show them this post. Which, in turn, makes them laugh which, in turn, makes more people come to investigate. For the rest of the afternoon we kept passing each other, throwing up our hands and saying "cookie mountain time!" Fun times. Thank you.

FYI I saw Cookie Mountain’s cousin, Brownie Mountain, at my Target. It was basically the same deal but with those mini two-bite brownies, caramel, and some whipped chocolate mousse or something similar. Glad to see there are mountain options!

Lol and now I know Target has a bakery. I have yet to find it but I am sure this mysterious haven will have more than enough horrors to fuel nightmares to come or just eat the cookie mountain thing and get the same result lol.